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Al Snow
Sarven was then recalled to the WWF, where he continued his gimmick of talking to "Head," creating some of the more memorable humorous skits of "The Attitude Era" including fighting himself in a hardcore match (which he won by putting himself through a table) and his short lived comedy tag team with Steve Blackman. Snow received some mainstream publicity in 1999 when Wal-Mart pulled his action figure from their shelves after Sabrena Parton, a professor at Kennesaw State University, complained that "Head" was a "decapitated woman's head" that sent an inappropriate message about violence towards women. Parton was quoted as saying "My sons are 6 and 11. What kind of message would this toy send them about brutalization of women?" Snow used the story as part of an angle in which the controversy caused him to suffer from depression. In one skit, Snow called his mother (kayfabe), observing that the stores would not sell his action figures, but would sell shotguns and ammunition. This led Snow to dump Head and his ECW persona, eventually overhauling his gimmick, but not before a feud and match with the Big Boss Man during the autumn of 1999. Snow replaced Head with a chihuahua named Pepper, who he claimed talked to him, leading to the Boss Man kidnapping Pepper. Boss Man agreed to return the dog if Snow defeated him in a match for the Hardcore title; however after losing the match he reneged and kept the dog. Later, in a segment on SmackDown, Boss Man invited Snow to his hotel room to discuss the situation, before serving Snow dinner which was then revealed to be Pepper. This led to the two competing in a "Dog Kennel" match at Unforgiven, which consisted of a regular cage which was surrounded by a Hell in a Cell structure, with "savage dogs" in between the two, and the objective was to escape both cages without being attacked by the dogs. Snow would later team with real life friend Mick Foley, but turned heel by betraying him due to Foley's jokes about him in his autobiography, Have A Nice Day. He would later turn face again due to fan reaction. Snow was often the butt of Foley's jokes during Foley's tenure as WWF Commissioner in 2000. However, they are close friends in real life. Foley continued to use Snow as the butt of many jokes in his second book, Foley Is Good: And the Real World Is Faker than Wrestling. In early 2000, he began to team with Steve Blackman as an "odd couple" tag team called Head Cheese (so called because of Snow's attempt to get Blackman to wear a Green Bay Packers "Cheese" hat so as to adapt a more charismatic gimmick). Also in 2000, Snow won the European Championship from Perry Saturn. He then began a tongue-in-cheek gimmick of entering the ring to various European countries' native music, with his theme song sung in the language of the country, and wearing attire which would suit the stereotype of that country. This continued until he lost the title to William Regal. In 2001, Snow tried to rally support from the fans to vote for him as the new Commissioner of the WWF following Foley's on-screen firing by Vince McMahon in December 2000. By March 2001, a match was set up between Snow and Regal to determine the new WWF Commissioner, which resulted in Regal winning. Snow then took some time off from the ring in order to commit more time for the reality show WWE Tough Enough. He made his return to the ring in October 2001 during the InVasion era and challenged Christian for the European Championship at Survivor Series, which he lost. Snow's last championship reign in WWE came on , when he defeated Goldust to win his last Hardcore Championship. He lost the title to his former Tough Enough student, Maven, days later. He was drafted to SmackDown! as part of the 2002 Brand Extension, where he teamed up with Maven. After taking time off again for another season of Tough Enough, Snow returned as a member of the Raw roster and eventually became a commentator for Sunday Night Heat alongside Jonathan Coachman. When the Coach sided with Eric Bischoff, Snow followed suit, turning heel. The two feuded with Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler, and briefly replaced them at the Raw announce table after a victory at Unforgiven in 2003. When Tough Enough IV came to SmackDown!, Snow was on the scene and turned face once again. In 2006, Snow returned to wrestling full-time as a member of the new ECW brand. His first appearance in the new brand was in the WWE vs ECW Battle Royal at the "WWE vs. ECW Head to Head" special, where he was accompanied by Head. He was eliminated from the match. On the June 13, 2006 debut of ECW on Sci-Fi, Snow participated in an Extreme Battle Royal, which was won by Sabu. Over the next six months, he was used sporadically, mostly as a jobber, losing to people such as Test and Kevin Thorn. On January 18, 2007, Snow was released from his WWE contract, along with several other superstars. However, he remained with the company as a trainer at Ohio Valley Wrestling. On the February 3, 2007 OVW TV tapings, Snow was named the new OVW Troubleshooter by Danny Davis in response to Danny Basham's WWE release. On Raw XV, the 15th-Anniversary special on December 10, 2007, Snow participated in the 15th Anniversary Battle Royal. After WWE ceased affiliations with Ohio Valley Wrestling, Snow was released from his position as a trainer.